The Spirit of Laws is a treatise on political theory first
published anonymously by Charles de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu in 1748 with
the help of Claudine Guérin de Tencin. Originally published anonymously partly
because Montesquieu's works were subject to censorship, its influence outside of
France was aided by its rapid translation into other languages.
— Excerpted from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Translated by Thomas Nugent, revised by J. V.